Mint Brownie Ice Cream: This ice cream begins with a creamy, refreshing mint base and is then filled with fudgy brownie chunks (2 cups worth!!), mini chocolate chips for crunch, and a fudge swirl to finish. So refreshing, chocolaty, and perfect for summer!

Happy Friday!! I hope everyone had enjoyable Independence Day full of relaxation and good food.

Today – and next week, too – I’m back at it with the ice cream and this one juuusst might be my favorite yet (the ever changing favorite, right?). Here’s what we have going on:

A creamy, refreshing mint ice cream base.

Brownie Chunks. 2 cups worth.

Mini chocolate chips.

And a fudge swirl to finish.

If this combination sounds familiar, then you might just be my new friend. While not intended to be a copycat recipe (you know, the thing where you try and make the recipe taste EXACTLY like the store-bought, bakery, coffee shop, etc., etc. version), this Mint Brownie Ice Cream is my attempt to, shall we say, honor a delicious creation by Cold Stone Creamery. Have you been there? Their creations are a beautiful thing, my friend. Mmm… I can just taste the Mint Mint Chocolate Chocolate Chip right now – so, so good. Oh! Oh! and the Chocolate Devotion!! (My ode to that coming next week!)

I was inspired to somewhat re-create two of my favorite “Creations” (Mint Mint Chocolate Chocolate Chip as well as Chocolate Devotion) after a recent visit to my local CSC and am delighted with the results (though, my waistline is not). Again, the idea was not to create an exact replica; just to take the elements I loved from each creation and make my own version.

You guys. I don’t even think I can tell you in words how delicious this combination is. It’s too good for words.

However, if I had to give specifics, what I particularly love about this flavor are the bites of fudgy brownie (2 cups of good-sized chunks, here) paired with the crunch from the mini chocolate chips – not to mention the fudge swirl besides! I also love the mint flavor that comes through, complimenting all components, but without stealing the show.

This recipe is super easy to put together and perfect for these hot summer months. For the brownie, I used a box mix. I did this because I thought it would give a better end result when mixed with the ice cream and also, there really didn’t seem to be a need to go through the extra step of making homemade. But don’t let me stop you from making a batch of homemade brownies, if that’s what you prefer!

For the fudge swirl, I did go the homemade route – again going with what I thought would give the best results – and made a batch of this delicious hot fudge sauce (it’s like pouring chocolate ganache on top of your ice cream; so chocolaty, smooth, and silky). This I made first and allowed it to cool at room temperature for about an hour. The recipe yields about a normal-sized mason jar’s worth and the leftovers I had were used for another batch of ice cream, and of course for pouring in ridiculous amounts on top of both ice creams.

OK, enough already. Please, if you love mint, brownie, and lots of chocolate, I highly encourage you to go make some Mint Brownie Ice Cream stat – it will be the best thing you’ve done all day.

½ tsp. peppermint extract (if you love a strong mint flavor, you could up it to ¾ tsp.)

2 C. (1 pint) heavy whipping cream

green food coloring, optional

2 C. brownie chunks

1 C. mini chocolate chips

about 3 tbsp. room temperature hot fudge sauce (see post)

Instructions

In a large bowl, stir together sweetened condensed milk and peppermint extract. Set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whisk together heavy cream and green food coloring, if using (I’m sorry, I can’t give you a drop amount of food coloring as I used gel, but I would say somewhere between 3-5 drops. Start on the low end, you can always add more later). Whisk until stiff peaks form.

Using a rubber spatula, fold whipped cream into sweetened condensed milk until thoroughly combined. If you need to add more food coloring, go ahead and do it now.

Gently fold in brownie chunks and mini chocolate chips.

Pour into a freezer-safe container (I always use a loaf pan).

Pour fudge sauce on top of ice cream and briefly swirl with a knife to incorporate.

June 21, 2017

August 11, 2017

3 Comments

Michelle

August 17, 2017

Mint ice cream + brownies + chocolate fudge = heaven!! I am SO excited to try this. This recipe is perfect for me--I love homemade ice cream but have been holding off buying an ice cream maker because I don't have much storage space in my kitchen. Thanks for the recipe!